Finding Life in New Jersey
by H50Cassidy
Summary: Steve's mom died three months ago and now his dad his sending him and his 9 year old sister to live with their Aunt May in New Jersey, who they've only met once before. Steve's starting a new school with no friends. Will he find a friend in a certain blue eyed, blonde boy?
1. Chapter 1

New Jersey was nothing like Hawaii. There is no palm trees, no beaches (great, which means no surfing), all they have is the stupid canned pineapple stuff, nothing like at home, and hardly any sunlight, just grey skies. Basically, this is Steve's idea of hell. Who would want to live somewhere where it's cold all the time? Aunt May's house smells nothing like home, either. Steve's mom used to make the house smell of vanilla, Steve's favorite scent, all the time. Man, he missed her. She was Steve's best friend. They basically did everything together when she wasn't working as a kindergarten teacher. Being the star quarterback you'd think Steve was the popular type but nope. He had one friend, Catherine, who is back in Hawaii. Not here. Steve still can't wrap his head around the fact that dad just sent them away, with just a pat on the back and "goodbye Steve". It's only been three months since mom's death and everything Steve's ever known is gone.

Soft, small footsteps break Steve out of his reverie. He immediately shoots out of bed and goes to the door of his new bedroom (it's so much different from the one back home. Boxes still filled the area.) "Mary?" Steve whispers as he opens the door and finds little 9 year old Mary standing in the doorway. He kneels down in front of her. "What're you doing up this late, kiddo?" Steve brushes a stray hair behind Mary's tiny little ear.

"I had a nightmare."

"It was the same one, wasn't it?" Mary shuffles her feet and nods.

She's been having the same nightmare ever since mom died. The first couple of weeks Steve would rock her to bed humming lullabies while dad was most likely out getting drunk, or in a bar fight. Their dad never seemed around after mom's death. It was like that was the last straw and he just couldn't take it anymore. Steve couldn't imagine what dad was feeling. He would always say mom was the love of his life.

Steve lets out a quiet sigh and grabs her hand. "How about you sleep in my bed with me tonight, huh? It's really big." Steve counts it as a victory when Mary's face shows a hint of a smile. She rushes forward and wraps her tiny little arms around her brother's neck, giving a sloppy kiss on Steve's cheek. "Love you Stevie."

Steve stands up and carries Mary back to his bed, edging the door closed with his foot. "Love you too, mare."

Steve woke to a warm weight on top of him and a light snoring in his ear. Slowly opening his eyes, he noticed the light had barely shown through the black, old-looking curtains. Damn, he needed to get those changed. Gently he eased himself out of the bed, careful of waking Mary and tip-toed outside of the room. Steve padded into the kitchen with only his boxers and a t-shirt on.

"Good morning, Steve. How'd you sleep?" Aunt May asked from where she was making eggs.

Steve made his way over to the stool and buried his head in his hands. "Okay, I guess. Mary had a nightmare and got scared so I let her sleep in my bed."

He heard silence and after a few moments looked up to see Aunt May frowning, with a sad look in her eyes. "It's so sad. It's just so much to take on for a 9 year old. Moving away from home..." The unspoken 'Losing her mother and having her father be a drunk who can't take care of his kids anymore so he sends them off to the mainland.' "The nightmares will probably go away eventually. She'll learn to cope."

"Yeah," Steve sighed. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looked everywhere but at Aunt May. Steve silently begged for the subject to be dropped.

As if on cue, Aunt May clears her throat and pushes a plate of freshly cooked eyes and a glass of milk in front of Steve saying, "Eat up. It's your first day of school!"

Great. School. New people, new teachers, and new classes. Could it get any worse?

Steve dug into his meal, was in and out of the shower, and changed in 30 minutes. He trudged down the stairs to find Aunt May standing by the door with little Mary holding her hand, looking like she was about to fall over. Steve laughed quietly and walked over.

"I'll take her." Steve picked her up and settled Mary on his hip. Mary immediately laid her head on Steve's shoulder. "Still tired, huh, kiddo?"

"Normal people don't wake up this early," was the muffled reply.

Steve looked up at Aunt May, "She's not a morning person."

Aunt may shook her head laughing and walked out to the car, Steve following with Mary.

After spending 5 minutes trying to detach Mary from Steve's chest, he closed the door to the backseat of Aunt May's Silver Sedan and hopped in the front seat, buckling up his seatbelt. Steve turned around and already found Mary fast asleep in her car seat. Smiling slightly at how cute and peaceful she looked in her sleep Steve turned around and was ready to face the day. Hopefully.

"Do you want me to go in and show you around first or do you think you'll be alright finding the office?"

Steve looked outside the window and there was a big grey building with hundreds of teenagers, all dressed differently, and roaming around the school grounds. This school is way bigger the Kukui High.

"I think I'll be okay." Steve answered, trying to keep the quiver out of his voice.

Aunt May looked at him thoughtfully for a minute, "Okay. I'll be here to pick you up in this same exact spot when schools out."

Steve nodded and looked in the backseat to find Mary still asleep. Deciding not to bug her he turned back to Aunt May. "Tell her Stevie loves her when she wakes up."

Aunt May nods. "Stevie a nickname she made up for you?"

"Yeah. It's something special between us, Y'know? It makes her happy and I'd do anything to keep her happy."

Aunt May smiles knowingly and says, "Well you better hurry up." Steve unbuckles his seat belt and hops out of the car, trying to balance himself when he hits a patch of ice. Damn this New Jersey weather.

"Thanks Aunt May." Steve smiles up at her nervously.

"You'll do fine, Steve. You're a good kid; you'll make friends in no time."

Steve just nodded and waved goodbye as he walked up the steps into the high school. The halls filled with noises of hundreds and hundreds of teens talking a mile a minute. Trying to make his way through the cramped hallways Steve finally made it to the main office.

It was much quieter. A dark haired lady who looked about 50 sat at the main desk. "Are you the Steve McGarrett who May told us about?"

Steve nodded and shoved his hands in his pocket.

The dark haired lady just smiled, "I'll get you your schedule and we'll show you around to your classes once the bell rings. You can sit in one of the chairs over there." She stood up and pointed across the room where Steve turned to find a blonde haired boy sitting down. He crossed the room and sat two seats away from the boy. Dropping his hands in his lap, Steve sighed and waited.

"Y'know, Steve, anyone who didn't know would think you're about to enter the principal's office because you punched a kid out in the cafeteria."

Steve turned to find two blue eyes belonging to the blonde staring straight at him. There was a slight turn to his lips. Right when Steve was about to reply when a loud bell rang (Must be the bell for 1st period.)And as if on cue the dark haired lady walked back in the room with a two papers in her hand. "Okay, Steve-" She stopped and noticed Danny sitting two seats away. "Danny Williams. I thought I told you I didn't want to see you here again, seeing as the last time you were in trouble."

"Awe, I missed you though, Linda. I just couldn't go a day without seeing your beautiful face. You know what it does to me." The blonde, Danny, smiled adoringly up at the dark haired lady, Linda.

"Danny." Linda frowned, silently telling Danny to cut the act.

"Calm down. Mr. Brock called me down for some reason. He's got something for me to do in order to make up for some of the suspension I did during 2nd quarter." Linda continued to frown at Danny. "I'm not in trouble, I swear. I have changed, Y'know."

"You were suspended?" Steve interrupted. This Danny guy didn't look like someone who'd get into trouble. Then again, don't judge a book by its cover.

Danny turned his head towards to Steve and smirked, "Nothing you need to know about, big guy."

Linda shook her head and handed the papers to Steve. "Here's your schedule, sweetie. The classes should be easy to find. If you need help the principal can assign a student to help you out. Y'know gets a feel for the school so you don't feel so lost all the time."

Steve looked down at two papers.

_A DAY:_

_1st: AP chemistry_

_2nd: Pre-Calculus_

_3rd: Drawing 3_

_4th: Physical Education_

_B DAY:_

_5th: World History_

_6th: Journalism_

_7th: AP English_

_8th: Study Hall_

The schedule didn't look that bad. Steve was glad he could get into the some of the same classes he was in during the beginning of his junior year back at kukui high.

"Thanks Ma'am," Steve smiled slightly.

"No problem, sweetie. Let me know if you need any help."

Steve nodded and she retreated back to her desk. Still sitting down, Steve tapped his knee nervously. Finally facing his fear he got up and left the main office and headed down the hall to find his first class.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny's POV:

Danny watched too tall, scrawny teenage boy leave the main office. Steve had a slight slump to his shoulders. Danny felt some sympathy; he knew what it was like to be the new kid. Looking over to Linda, Danny found her typing something on the computer.

"Danny. Is there something you need?" Linda spoke, without removing her eyes from the computer screen.

"Who is that kid?" Danny pointed to the front door of the main office.

"He just moved here from Hawaii." She paused and looked up at Danny. "His aunt is May Patterson."

"Really?" Danny knew May Patterson all too well. Let's just say she doesn't like him very much.

Linda nodded and returned to her work on the computer. Danny slumped in his seat and looked at his feet. A few minutes later Mr. Brock entered the main office area and looked at Danny.

"Okay. So I'm here." Danny stood and spread his arms wide. "What can I do? My Dad's going to kill me if I can't get these grades up, and you know what he's like. He already thinks I'm a no good idiot of a son."

"Don't worry, Daniel." Mr. Brock turned on his heel and headed towards his office, waving to Linda as he passed. "Come sit in my office." Danny followed, closing the door behind him, and sat down in the ugly brown chair occupying the middle of the room. Mr. Brock leaned against the desk and folded his arms.

"Okay. Can we please stop with the staring? I only came here because you said you had something that would help get me some extra credit from my suspensions. If you're just going to stand there all high and mighty staring at me then can I please get back to class? Y'know, the room filled with other misfit teens that are forced to come to this hell-hole everyday learning things we'll probably not even need in said future." Danny's hands moved all over the place, slicing through the air, while he talked. His voice had risen slightly with each word.

Mr. Brock continued to stare at Danny, slightly amused. "Are you done, Williams?"

Danny sighed and opened his mouth to reply but decided against it. The sooner he could get out of here, the better.

"The reason I called you in here is because there's a new student, Steve McGarrett, who just moved here about 4 days ago."

Danny perked up when he heard 'Steve McGarrett'. That was the kid he had just met earlier. Something about the dark haired boy had drawn Danny to him. He wanted to know more. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Mr. Brock continued, "I assume you've already met him, or know of him?"

"Well, yeah. He sat a couple seats away from me when I was waiting for you to call me in. The kid looked absolutely freaked out. It was like he was waiting for hell to rain down on him. He had this 20 yard blank stare going on. It was kind of weird. What was up with that?"

The older man sighed and unfolded his arms. "Steve's had a pretty rough time. Now I can't tell you all the details because that's his decision but I wanted to offer you to show him around. Be friends with him so he doesn't feel so alone. You of all people would know what that's like. Am I right, Williams?" Danny slowly nodded. The past was in the past. He didn't need to think about that right now. "You do that and I can move all your grades from D's to C's. The rest you'll have to catch up on your own. Also I can see about getting your suspensions removed from you permanent record based on your circumstances."

"So I just hang out with this kid and you'll move my grades up? That's it?" Danny was shocked. He expected having to clean out the bathroom stalls or mop up the cafeteria. He's done it before and oh god, teens now a days have no respect for cleanliness.

_Listen to yourself, Williams. You're starting to sound like your father_, Danny thought.

Mr. Brock nodded and turned to grab a piece of paper from the printer. "I've rearranged your schedule so you'll be in some of the same classes as Steve." He handed over the new schedule. Danny grabbed it without hesitation. As Danny went to stand up he felt a hand on his shoulder. Mr. Brock's tone grew serious. "I mean it, Daniel." Danny looked up from the freshly inked paper. "Go easy on him, alright? I know you have an attitude but he's been through a lot this past couple months."

Danny nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

Mr. Brock removed his hand from Danny's shoulder and retreated to the swivel chair occupying the space behind the gigantic desk. _It was ridiculously huge for a small man like Mr. Brock_, Danny thought. "Goodbye, Daniel." Mr. Brock said as he glued his eyes to the computer and starting typing something, completely ignoring the fact Danny was still in the room.

Danny took that as his cue to leave. He found Linda by the copying machine. Danny continued walking and shot a smile at Linda. "Goodbye, my darling!" He called as he exited the main office.

"Don't want to see you here again, Williams!" Linda called back causing Danny to laugh quietly to himself.

Now it was time to find this McGarrett kid. Danny was looking forward to it.


	3. Chapter 3

It took about what seemed like 45 minutes, but in reality was probably just 5 minutes, to find first period. _Why the hell is this school so huge? You can get lost just turning the corner_, Steve thought. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Steve was standing in front of the door to room 1246, otherwise known as AP Chemistry. Steve used to absolutely love chemistry. He's quite good at it, too, if he'd say so himself. His mom used to always tell him that he'd grow up to be an amazing Chemist. Steve, of course, always believed her. Now with everything that's gone on he's not so sure.

Taking in a big breath of air and exhaling slowly Steve reaches for the door handle and walks slowly into the classroom, automatically being stared at by 40 faces. Steve stood there, eyes roaming nervously, not knowing what to do.

The grey haired man in the white lab coat looked down at his clipboard and back up at Steve, then a big grin broke out onto his face. "Ah! McGarrett! It's so nice of you to join us. Come to the front of the class so I can introduce you to everyone."

_Perfect. So much for trying to keep to myself, _Steve thought.

He slowly made his way to the front of the class. Steve could already feel his heart beating faster with each step he took. Eventually he was standing in front of the 40 faces that greeted him as he walked in.

The older man stuck out his hand and Steve accepted it, giving him a firm shake, and then shoving both hands back in his pockets. Steve remembered when his dad would always tell him, _"Make sure your shake is firm, not lousy."_

"I'm Mr. Terry. As you know this is AP Chemistry!"

Steve nodded, trying to avoid looking anywhere else but at the ground.

"Why don't you introduce yourself, son." Mr. Terry smiled and patted Steve on the shoulder. Kind of like Steve's dad used to do. Steve wishes his dad would've hugged him and Mary more.

"Uhm," Steve's voice sounded foreign, like he hadn't spoken in days. He clears his throat and raises his head to look in front of him, once again being met by 40 faces. "Hi. I'm Steve, "Steve raised his hand in a lousy wave. " I, uh, just moved here from Hawaii."

"Did you have palm trees in your backyard!?" Some voice said from the back of the room. He followed the voice and found a blonde haired girl with a blue jacket on looking at him wide-eyed. She reminded Steve of Mary.

Smiling slightly he answered the girl, "Yeah. There are palm trees all over Hawaii. There are plenty of beaches to go surfing, too."

"You surf? No way! That's so cool," said the blonde girl. Steve liked her. She seemed sweet.

"Yeah, my dad taught me when I was about 4 years old." Steve blinked, trying not to think about his dad and sending Mary and him away.

"You're that kid whose dad sent you away, huh?" Said a shaggy haired boy. He had a nasty smile on his face. Steve's face fell. "What a loser."

Mr. Terry frowned and pointed his ruler at the shaggy haired boy, "That's enough, Jimmy."

"It's okay." Steve spoke quietly.

Mr. Terry looked at Steve sadly. "Why don't you take a seat right over there next to Alexis." It turns out Alexis was the blonde girl in the blue jacket. Steve nodded and made his way over to Alexis, who sat about two seats back from Jimmy, when out of nowhere he felt a leg tripping him and next thing Steve knew he was face down on the ground.

"Jimmy! That's not funny! " Steve heard Alexis yell.

"He must've tripped over my backpack, oops." Jimmy laughed. The peers around him tried to stifle their laughter, as well.

Mr. Terry glared at jimmy, "Knock it off you two," and continued on with the lesson.

Steve groaned as he brought a hand up to his nose to check if it was bleeding. Thankfully, it wasn't. He slowly pushed himself up and avoided all the gazes going his way and sat in the empty seat next to Alexis.

"Hey, you okay?" Alexis whispered as she placed a warm hand on his forearm. Steve nodded and avoided looking at her, intent on focusing on Mr. Terry's lesson for the day. He missed the sad look that took up Alexis' face.

After about an hour the lesson was finally over. Steve closed his notes and put the notebook that is now marked _AP Chemistry, _back into his backpack. Halfway to the door he's stopped by Jimmy.

"Look man, I don't want any trouble, alright?" Steve sighed.

"Who said I was looking for trouble?" Jimmy smiled that nasty smile again. Steve lifted his head and looked the boy in the eye.

"Well if you aren't looking for trouble then why did you trip me?" Steve was flabbergasted. Could one person really be this much of a jerk? He didn't even know Steve.

"You're a fun one, McGarrett. I'll give you that." With that jimmy turned on his heel and walked out of the classroom. His 'possy' (that's what Steve called them) followed him.

Steve stood there for a couple of seconds and then continued on out the door, heading to find 2nd period.

While walking in the hall, somebody ran right into him. Steve shuffle forward, trying to avoid falling face down again.

"Oh, man, sorry!" He felts hands on him and they disappeared just quickly only leaving a trace of warmth.

Steve turned around to find the blonde haired boy from this morning standing right in front of him. Steve's cheeks began to grow warm. Steve knew he liked guys; he just never acted on it. Mom was the only one who ever knew, anyways. Danny's blonde hair was perfectly slicked back and it curled at the nape of his neck. He was short, unlike Steve who hit a growth spurt when he was about 13, but had a firm build. He had wide shoulders, a trim waist, and scrawny legs. Danny was wearing a black sweatshirt with a Yankees logo on the front and very tight fitting faded jeans, showing off his ass quite nicely. Steve's never been so attracted to a guy like this before and suddenly his mouth goes dry. He brings his gaze back up to Danny's face and finds two sparkling blue eyes staring right at him. Steve just stood there with his mouth gaping open.

"Hello? McGarrett? You okay, man? You're wearing the lost fish expression right now. Kind of hard to tell what you're thinking," said the smaller boy.

Steve shook his head and nodded, "Uh yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Are you good? You ran right into me….just now." Steve adds after a moment of thought as if Danny had already forgotten running into Steve.

_Smooth McGarrett_, Steve thought.

"Me? I'm fine! You're the one turning red, buddy." Steve noticed that Danny liked to talk with his hands, as Steve arms were hanging lamely by his sides. He's never felt so awkward before. Danny continued to stare straight at Steve, and damn he needed to stop that. Steve face was beginning to turn even redder. He looked down at the ground while a grin spread on Danny's face.

"What classroom you headed too, Steve?" Danny asked, already knowing the answer.

Steve looked down at his schedule and answered, "Room 2229. Pre-Calc. What about you?"

"Same. Guess we'll go together, then, huh?" Danny brushed past Steve, humming some tune, and walked up the stairs. Danny had a bounce to his step. Steve found himself staring again and hurried after Danny, after all, he was the one who knew where they were going.

The rest of the day was kind of slow. It turns out Danny was in Steve's 2nd and 3rd period classes. They checked each other's schedules and Danny was also in 3 of his classes on B Day, as well.

He had to lunch alone, unfortunately. He had looked for Danny or Alexis but none seemed to be in the cafeteria and he ended up eating on the bathroom floor. It was disgusting. This whole place was disgusting, in Steve's eyes. He never had to eat in the bathroom back at Kukui High. Steve always beat himself up for being too shy and never making any friends. I guess he'd consider Danny and Alexis his friends but he barely knows them, and they don't know Steve at all. So basically, Steve's still alone in this germ infested hell-hole. Steve silently begged to go home.

The school bell finally rang and Steve raced out of the classroom, trying to avoid Jimmy, who also happened to be in his 4th period class. Apparently he wasn't fast enough because Jimmy and his possy raced passed Steve effectively shoving him into the lockers, causing Steve to drop all his belongings.

"Shit." Steve hissed as he knelt down trying to grab all his papers and avoid them from being stepped on by the entire student body. Eventually Steve had all his papers gathered up and shoved into his 30 ringed binders. Well, at least he thought he had them all. Some may have ended up being sacrificed to the hundreds of feet scuffing up the already beat up floors. Steve couldn't find it in himself to care. He carefully, but quickly made his way outside over to the spot Aunt May had dropped him off at this morning. Steve breathed a sigh of relief when he found Aunt May's Silver Sedan already there and smiled when he saw a familiar facing beaming at him.

"STEVIE!" Mary yelled, waving her hand frantically out the window trying to get her older brothers attention. Steve made his way to Mary's window. Mary had really missed her Super Seal today.

"Hey kiddo," He kissed Mary on the cheek then Steve turned his head allowing Mary to do the same, "You have a good day?"

"It was okay," Mary shrugged and sat back in her seat, buckling up. Steve ruffled her hair and opened the passenger door, hopping in and buckling up as quickly as possible. He wanted to get out of here.

"What's with the rush, Steve?" Aunt May asked concerned.

"S'nothing," Steve looked out the window and Aunt May sighed, knowing that Steve wasn't going to talk anymore than he already has. The trio made their way out of the parking lot and headed back to Aunt May's house. The entire car ride back was silent, except for the faint noise of the radio.

END OF PART 3


	4. Chapter 4

Steve sat against the headboard to his new gigantic queen sized bed, trying to get lost in his drawing. He's been drawing ever since he got that sketch pad on his 6th birthday. Steve would draw everything. His favorite was drawing pictures of little Mary, who happened to be sitting right in front of Steve. Mary was as still as a statue. Steve would tell her to not move and she literally didn't move. It was pretty amazing for a 9 year old girl who is ALWAYS moving and talking people's heads off.

"Stevie?" Mary asked, remaining still.

Steve stopped drawing the outlines of Mary's eyes and looked up at his little sister. "What's up, kiddo?"

He waited for a couple of seconds and was about to ask what was wrong until she spoke up. "I don't like school." Mary whispered, hanging her head, so quietly that Steve almost didn't hear her.

"What? You said you love school! Remember? All the cool things you get to learn, playing with kids your own age. Isn't that fun?" Steve poked her arm, trying to cheer the little one up. Only Mary wasn't cheering up at all. Steve saw the tears gather around her bright blue eyes.

"No Stevie. I don't like it here. I miss mommy and daddy."

Steve moved to put the sketch book and pencil on his night stand and took the little girl in his arms. Mary automatically wrapped her skinny arms around Steve's neck and sniffled into his shoulder.

"I miss mommy and daddy to, kiddo. I wish I could do something about it but I can't. You know I'd do anything for you, mare. I love you so much. Don't you ever forget that, okay?" Steve laid his cheek on top of Mary's head. She smelled like vanilla. Steve's favorite scent.

"Why did daddy send us here?" Mary mumbled as she buried her face into her brother's neck.

"Daddy was having a hard time, Mare. He loved mommy so much and just couldn't take care of us like he wanted to. He did what he thought was best."

They were both silent for a couple of minutes before Mary spoke up again.

"I heard daddy crying one night. I was thirsty and went into the kitchen to get some water and daddy was just standing there crying. I wanted to hug daddy but he told me to go to bed."

Steve stayed silent as he heard his little sister's confession. Their dad had a lot of rough nights. Steve did his best to make sure Mary never found out about dad drinking himself into a stupor, and silently crying over their dead mother. Letting out a big sigh, Steve just held on tighter until Mary's tears started to subside. About ten minutes later Mary's tummy growled really loudly causing them both to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Whoa that was loud!" Mary exclaimed, backing out of Steve's embrace. She had a smile on her face now and that was all that mattered.

"We better go see if Aunt May can whip us up some dinner, huh?" Steve kissed Mary's nose, gently wiping away the tears, bringing out yet another giggle from the tiny body.

"I'll race ya!" Mary was already up and out of the room before Steve could catch her. Shaking his head, man he his loved his sister, he slowly got out of bed and padded into the kitchen to find Mary sitting on the counter while Aunt May was stirring something in a big huge pot. It smelled amazing.

"Stevie! She's making Spaghetti!" Mary had always an odd obsession with food. Unlike other little kids, she loved everything. It was quite entertaining how excited she would get.

"Oh yeah?" Steve walked up to them and peered over Aunt May's shoulder. "Wow, Aunt May….it smells amazing."

"It's one of your grandma's recipes. It's been in the family for years, and years." Steve grinned. How could he not? Aunt May's smile was contagious.

"Really?" Mary was swinging her long skinny legs back and forth, bumping into the counter every now and then.

"Yep! You want to help stir?" Aunt May handed the spoon over to Mary who took it in her hands excitedly and started to stir.

"So what were you guys doing up there?" Aunt May asked as she supervised Mary.

"I was drawing this little one. She wanted yet another portrait, even though she's got 40 already!" Steve poked Mary's sides causing her to giggle and trying and squirms away from his hands. Aunt May looked thoughtfully at the brother and sister duo.

"You're a good brother to her, Steve." Aunt May had whispered after Steve had put Mary to bed later that evening.

He leaned against the closed door. Closing his eyes, Steve sighed quietly letting the day wash over him. "She's all I have left. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her, too." He finished quietly. He forced himself to hold the tears back.

"You want to tell me what happened at school today?"

Steve's eyes shot open at that. "What do you mean?"

Aunt May gently guided Steve into the living room and urged him to sit down on the leather sectional. She sat down right next to him and looked him in the eye.

"I saw how anxious you were to get home, today." Steve mentally flinched at the word home. Hawaii was home, not New Jersey. "You know you can tell me anything, Steve. I'm here to love and support you. I promise I'll listen."

"Thanks Aunt May but I...I think I'm going to just go to bed. I'm tired." Steve stood up and walked back into his bedroom. Aunt May watched him leave and sighed. She had to get Steve to talk to her some way. He was holding all his feelings inside and eventually he's just going to burst. That's what she was afraid of.

Steve quickly stripped out of all his clothes except for his boxers, not caring where they dropped, and climbed under the covers. They were cold against his skin causing a little shiver to break out of the young boy's body. He punched the pillow a few times, letting out his frustration of the day and buried himself under the blankets, hoping he wouldn't wake up in the morning. It took a while until sleep finally claimed him, images of Danny playing in his mind as he slowly drifted away.

The rest of the week was very uneventful. Jimmy still acted like a jerk and Steve did his best to ignore it but to be honest it was starting to get on his last nerve. What did Steve ever do Jimmy? Exactly. He did absolutely nothing. Steve didn't see much of Alexis that week, except for 1st period and he had tried avoiding Danny so he wouldn't make a complete idiot of himself. Yes. Steve had the gayest, gigantic crush on Danny and it was stupid. Danny was obviously straight. All the girls like Danny because he's got this bad boy edge to him. Every time the boy had even talked to Steve, or even acknowledged his existence, Steve would blush like a little school girl. More and more Steve would catch himself staring and fantasizing about the blonde haired boy. It was beginning to get ridiculous.

While replaying the week in his head Steve put his sweaty gym clothes in a plastic bag, shoving them into his backpack. The locker room was empty. The bell had already rung and everyone was gone. Shutting his locker and closing the lock over it Steve made his way to the door when he ran into somebody, of course, none other than the one and only Jimmy Estrada.

Steve tried to make his way around the older boy but was pushed back against the wall. He raised his head to find two other guys standing on either side of Jimmy.

"Jimmy, seriously let me through." Steve tried to make his way past again but was pushed even harder back against the wall.

"Eh, it's going to cost ya." Jimmy smirked and next thing Steve knew his vision was blurred and he was spitting blood onto the rusty old looking tiled floors, clutching his stomach. He tried to stand but there was a weight pushing him down. Pain erupted into his knee causing Steve to let out a loud groan. "You little faggot! We saw you checking out Williams." Steve coughed, choking on his own saliva. Shit! Jimmy knew. "What? You think we didn't know?" Jimmy laughed coldly as did the two other guys that Steve couldn't put a name to the face.

"Fuck off." Steve spat out, silently begging for them to just leave him alone. He needed to start to learn to stand up for himself. Steve felt a hand yank his hair back and he bit his lip, fighting back a whimper.

"What did you just say to me?" Jimmy growled into Steve's ear. Steve stayed silent, looking anywhere but at Jimmy. He felt his head yanked back again. Steve bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut hoping for the intense nausea to go away. "What did you just say to me!?" Jimmy yelled the anger apparent in his voice.

"I….Nothing. N-nothing." Steve sputtered. He slumped forward, barely catching himself on his hands and knees when Jimmy let's his grip loose on Steve's hair.

"That's what I thought." With one last shove Jimmy and his two friends exited the locker room leaving Steve lying helplessly on the floor, groaning in pain.


	5. Chapter 5

Danny's POV:

It was Friday and everyone was racing towards the bus. Danny stayed back by the front doors hoping to catch Steve. For some reason the kid had been ignoring him and he wanted to know why. Ten minutes had passed and still no sign of Steve. Looking over into the parking lot Danny's eyes searched for the Silver Sedan that May Patterson had always drove. Maybe if it wasn't there then that meant Steve had already gone home. He continues to look and eventually his eyes land on said Silver Sedan. No sign of Steve in the passenger's seat.

"What the hell…" Danny whispered to himself. He thought about walking over and seeing if, in fact, Steve was in the car but thought he'd better not. May isn't the biggest fan of Danny and he isn't her number one fan, either. She's always been on Danny's dad's side when everything went down in Danny's suspension. Nobody had even believed Danny's side of the story and that bothered Danny a lot, especially considering how close Danny was with May. She was like a second mom. He expected it from his dad, not her, though. Then again maybe May knew where Steve was.

Finally deciding that he couldn't wait another 2 days to talk to Steve, Danny made his way over to the car. Carefully avoiding all the patches of ice that somebody is bound to fall on and crack their head open, one of these days. Once he reached the car he saw no sight of Steve. So he knocked on the window. May turned from where she was looking ahead of her and her mouth dropped in surprise. Danny shyly waved, motioning for her to roll the window down.

"Daniel, why aren't you home? Did you get in trouble again?"

"Who is that?" Danny heard a small voice from the backseat pipe up. Aunt May shushed the little girl.

"No, no. And again? Really? I didn't even do anything. You all just decided to believe it was me who did it! You didn't even bother listening to my side of the story, which was the very true, very correct side, thank you very much." Danny was beginning to get angry but he kept his emotions at bay.

Now is not the time, Williams, Danny mentally told himself.

"Danny, this isn't a good time to discuss it." May scolded him. Her hair was grayer than Danny had remembered. She had more wrinkles covering her face, as well.

"Yeah, well apparently it's never a good time to discuss it, is it May?"

She didn't respond so Danny dropped the subject. "Look. I didn't come over here to fight, okay? I was actually looking for Steve. I can't find him and it's been ten minutes, do you know where he is?"

May frowned, "I just assumed he was talking to a teacher or something."

"No because his last class is PE and the teacher doesn't like staying after." Danny corrected. "So you don't know where he is?" May shook her head.

"Shit." Danny hissed and stood up from where he was leaning his elbow on the window seal. Where the hell was he?

May's expression quickly grew to concern. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

"Listen, I'm going to go check inside, okay? I'll come back with him if I find him."

May nodded clearly trying to hide her concern and failing miserably. Danny sighed and headed straight towards the gym. If he was lucky, it wouldn't be locked.

Steve's POV:

Steve stayed where he was for the next couple of minutes before he finally gathered the strength to at least try and get up off of the floor. Clenching his teeth Steve propped himself up on his elbows and slowly crawled closer towards the wall. It took a while, and he was very out of breath by the end of it, but eventually Steve was sitting up straight, leaning against the cold tiled wall. His heart was beating super fast and his knee and head were screaming at him in pain. Tears began to prick at his eyes but he fought them back. Who did Jimmy think he was? To just come in here and beat the shit out of him like he's a worthless piece of garbage. Steve would never begin to understand why everyone here hated him so much. They probably all thought he was the loser who moved here from some island but it was just Jimmy who acted out on it. Does everyone else know Steve has the hots for Danny, too? That Steve likes to suck dick sometimes? (Well, okay technically he never has but the thought of it is very appealing.) That was the one thing besides his mother's death that Steve didn't want anyone to know. That's probably not even a secret either. When did everything become so fucked up? Steve used to be a happy teenager and now he can't even remember the first time he smiled, truly smiled like he meant it.

"Oh god…" Steve whispers to the cold empty locker room. The anger of everything that's gone wrong the past couple of months practically burst out of Steve when he is least expecting it. Steve slams his fist into the locker beside him, most likely cracking the skin. Steve's put it behind himself to even care anymore. He'd rather physically hurt than having to ride this emotional rollercoaster. He pulls his hand back, wincing. While quietly staring at his rapidly swelling hand, the tears that have been finally threatening to fall finally stream down his face, blurring his vision. Once he let's go and starts crying he can't stop and the shaking is hitting him at full force. Steve drew his knees in and wrapped his arms around the front of his legs, rocking back and forth. After a few minutes Steve hears a door open and then shut seconds later.

Oh god. Jimmy, Steve thought.

Quickly scrambling to his feet, Steve wiped away the tears angrily. Grabbing his backpack he slowly made his way over to the backdoor, wincing at his knee screamed at him.

"There you are! Man. I've been looking all over for you!" Steve immediately recognized it as Danny's voice and kept his back turned, which didn't matter because Danny came to stand in front of him anyways. He didn't see the way Danny's face fell as soon as he saw the rapidly darkening bruise covering Steve's left eye and the blood on Steve's shirt.

"Dude, what happened?" Steve kept his gaze on the ground. So instead Danny tried a different approach and reached out to check to touch Steve's hand, which he also notices was pretty swollen. Steve flinched and automatically took a couple steps back colliding with the wall he had been sitting up against previously.

"Steve, c'mon I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see if you're okay. Will you let me do that?" Danny's voice turned soft and dammit! Steve felt like he was going to cry again. The last thing he wants to do his cry in front of Danny. That's not manly at all.

"J-just leave me alone, o-okay? I-I'm fine, Danny." Steve fought to keep the quiver out of his voice and failed horribly.

"The hell you are. It looks like you just went ten round with a grizzly bear!" Steve flinched at the raise in Danny's voice, "I'm sorry. You're Aunt is waiting for you, she's kind of worried. She has a reason to be." Steve finally looked up at Danny only to look away just as quickly. "I told her I'd let her know that I found you so will you please just talk to me? Or you don't even have to talk. We can just walk outside to your Aunt's car and take you back to her house and bandage you up, because I've have go to say that cut above your eye looks pretty nasty, buddy. But yet you still manage to look like a Greek god, and I can't even begin comprehend how that's even possible."

Steve could feel the corners of his mouth turning up. Danny on rant mode was hilarious. He lifted his head and met Danny's gaze. His eyes were sparkling and there was a hint of worry only Steve could see.

"Thanks," Steve spoke quietly. It was just one word but Steve meant it a whole lot.

Danny beamed at him, the worry still showing in his eyes but Steve didn't mind. That smile was directed at Steve and Steve alone. It made Steve's stomach do a flip. After a few seconds of just smiling at each other Danny nodded over to the door of the locker room and said, "How about we got get you bandaged up, huh?"

Steve, of course, followed.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve slowly limped behind Danny. Despite his entire body hurting like a bitch, Steve couldn't stop himself from admiring Danny's backside. It was really a thing of beauty, Steve thought to himself. He was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when Danny turned around to face him. Steve immediately came to a stop, grunting as his knee screamed at him.

"Uhm, Danny. The car's that way." Steve pointed lamely to the front doors of the school.

"I know where the car his dork but I've noticed you're a little slow trying to keep up with me and that makes absolute no sense because you're like a giant. Is there something you're not telling me?" Jesus. Did this guy ever turn off?

Sighing, Steve slumped a little. "My knee." He gestured to his leg, as if it explained everything. Suddenly Danny was making his way over to Steve and settling next to his left side, Draping Steve's left arm over his broad shoulders.

"You could've just told me." Danny spoke softly and they continued their way outside. The journey was a little easier on Steve's knee now that Danny was supporting most of his weight. Steve enjoyed the warmth of Danny while he could; knowing he probably wouldn't get another chance to be this close to him again.

Cold hair hit his skin once they past the front doors and from a distance Steve could hear May shouting his name in worry, there was a little sound of relief in there too. Danny and Steve slowly made their way over as May ran over. She had left Mary back in the car. Steve didn't like that.

"Steve! Oh my gosh! What happened? Are you okay? What hurts?" She began to lay her hands on Steve, checking every inch of him to see if he was okay. He had a brief flashback of when Steve's mother did the same thing after he had fallen on his brand new bicycle his parents had gotten him for his 8th birthday. Steve slowly pushed away her prying hands.

"Aunt May." Steve said firmly. She kept trying to check him over but he kept a grip on her hands. "I'm fine." He searched her eyes for at least some acknowledgment but she didn't look at all convinced, worry lines spreading across her face. Steve let go of her hands and whispered, "Can we just go? Please?"

They all waited in silence until Aunt May visibly deflated. "Come on then." She walks over to take position on Steve's right side. With the help of Aunt May and Danny, they make it to the car without much fuss. Getting into the car was a different problem. Mary sat staring at her beaten down brother as he shuffled into the back seat. Danny and Aunt May began to talk in a hushed whisper outside. Choosing to ignore them, Steve sat back and let out a big sigh. Just before he was about to close his eyes and let sleep take him he hear a small voice coming from his left side.

"Stevie?" Mary whispered from her seat.

Steve turned to see Mary staring up at him with big, bright blue, watery eyes. Steve's heart broke as he realized how scared she must be. He lifted his arm over the little girl's shoulders and she immediately snuggled up against his side. Steve didn't find it in himself to care that his whole body was telling him to stop because this was his sister. He'd go through hell just to see her happy and smiling.

Giving a kiss to the top of her head, Steve whispered, "its okay, kiddo. I'm okay."

He laid his cheek on top of her head and let his eyes droop closed.

After depositing Steve into the car, May pulled Danny a few feet off to the side.

"What the hell happened?" She glared at Danny, as if it was his fault.

Not wanting to get into a fight, Danny sighed, "I don't know, okay? He looked like this when I found him." Danny dropped his voice to a whisper, "I found him in the locker room crying. He tried to bolt out of there like his tail was on fire, like he thought I was the guy coming back to finish him off."

Danny remembered seeing the tall boy curled in on himself, sobbing into his knees. The sight had made Danny's heart clench.

There seemed to be a mixture of guilt, worry, and defeat in May's eyes. She reached up to run a hand over her tired looking face. "I should've talked to him, but he wouldn't tell me what was going on. I had no idea that it was..."

"Hey, this isn't your fault, okay? I can try talking to him if you'd like. I know you're not my biggest fan and you probably hate me but it's worth a shot, yeah?" Danny smiled slightly, although it felt kind of wrong on his face.

May stared at Danny's bright blue eyes for moment, remembering the little boy he once was and reluctantly agreed. Smiling, Danny held out his hand making a give-it-to-me hand gesture.

"You're not driving my car, Daniel." With that, May turned away and hopped into the driver's seat leaving Danny no choice but to sit in the passenger's side.

Halfway through the drive Danny had noticed that Steve wasn't talking. He turned around to find Steve and a little girl (Who he still didn't know the name of) sleeping in what looked like a peaceful state. Turning his eyes back to the road, Danny leaned back and waited.


	7. Chapter 7

Two hours later had found Steve lying down on his new mattress, in his new bedroom. Aunt May had insisted to be the one who bandaged up Steve, knowing not to fight her on it, Danny and Steve let her. Everyone could feel the tension in the room while she was tending to Steve's wounds. It was unmistakable. Mary had stayed close by next to Steve, afraid if she let him out of her sight that he'd be gone.

Sighing, Steve let his body mold into the mattress.

Steve was just about to drift off into a light sleep when he heard a gentle knock on his door before Danny walked in, closing it behind him. Steve stayed where he was, staring at the ceiling, afraid to look Danny in the eye. He thought if he did then he just might cry. Those eyes held so much sympathy. Plus it seemed like he was having the urge to cry more and more lately. It wasn't like Steve. He was never this emotional. Everyone must have a breaking point though, right? This must be Steve's, only it won't end.

"Hey." Danny whispered. Steve hoped Danny didn't expect a response because there was no way he could talk right now. Not with the good sized lump in his throat. He waited in silence a couple of seconds before he heard some scuffing of shoes sliding across the hardwood floors, and his bed dip near his feet. A warm hand caressed his ankle, Steve almost whimpered at the touch. "You're sister is quite the talker. She looks up to you a lot." Danny chuckled quietly, "She wouldn't shut up about how awesome her older brother Stevie was. Oh and by the way, the name Stevie. That's very cute, Steven, I must say." Steve felt his mouth begin to turn up a little bit at the corners and his heart rate had finally begun to slow down while Danny had continued to speak. "I know the last thing you want to do right now is talk. I feel like a complete jerk asking you, to be honest, but I know for a fact that it helps."

Steve opened his eyes and slowly shifted, leaning on his elbows only to find Danny staring down at him with his gorgeous (well, Steve thought they were) bright blue eyes. All emotions were splayed across his face, like an open book. "So, do you want to give it a go? I'm all ears, no judgment." Danny's hand squeezed Steve's ankle momentarily. "I promise."

Steve wanted to tell Danny everything but all that came out was, "Why are you still here?" It was harsher than Steve had intended.

Danny blinked, shocked for moment. He hadn't expected that kind of response. He didn't know what to say so Danny went with the simple truth, "Because I wanted to see if you're okay."

"I'm fine." Steve gestured to his various stark white bandages, hoping to get message across. "So there's really no point in you staying here, Danny."

"I'm just trying to help," Danny tried to explain before he was cut off.

"I don't need your help! I've been doing just fine for Mary and me on my own, okay? I don't need you, or Aunt May babysitting me all the time." Steve finally managed to turn away from Danny's prying eyes and shook off the hand that had still been covering Steve's ankle. "Since when do you all of a sudden care? You barely know me." Steve mumbled.

"I don't know McGarrett. Maybe it's because I know what it's like to have nobody, okay?" Danny was beginning to lose his temper. "I've been down that road, okay? And let me say that it's the loneliest road you will ever go down and maybe I care because I don't feel that anyone deserves to go through what I did. I can see you're hurting, Steve. You walk through school every single day with this vacant look in your eyes like if anyone touches you, you'd break. I don't know anything about you because you don't let people in. All week I've tried to be your friend but you just keep pushing me away." Danny paused to take a breath. His tone softened, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want to get to know you, and I care. God knows why, but I do. You've just got to let me in, Steve. Maybe I can help ease the huge weight you've got on your shoulders. Just let me try. Give me a chance, Steve." Danny practically pleaded. Steve stayed where he was, trying to take in everything that Danny was telling him. How could he possibly care as much as he says he does? They've only known each other a week.

Giving in, he slowly turned around so he was facing Danny again. "What do you want me to say, Danny?" Steve asked, because he really had no idea where to start.

Danny looked at him thoughtfully. He started to idly stroke Steve's good leg. Steve found it comforting and chose not to mention it, anything to keep the contact. "Why don't you start with why you moved here in the first place, huh?" Danny spoke softly, like he knew it was a delicate subject for Steve.

Steve cleared his throat before speaking, "My mom passed away 3 months ago." Danny sucked in a breath but continued stroking Steve's leg, urging him to continue. "She was like my best friend, y'know? I've never been good at making friends; I've only ever had one. I've always been the shy, awkward kid who happened to be good at football, not that it mattered. I was constantly harassed at school every single day but whenever I went home and saw mom I always felt better, because I knew as long as I had her, it'd all be okay." Steve felt the tears begin to prick at his eyes. "But now she's gone and my dad can't even stand to look at his own kids because it reminds him to much of her. So what does he do? He sends us away, like we don't even matter..." Steve's voice cracked in the middle of his sentence, causing him to stop talking and close his eyes. A few minutes of silence passed, Danny's hand still idly stroking Steve's good leg.

"I'm sorry about your mom." Danny whispered, and why did he sound closer? Steve slowly opened his eyes and found Danny had moved up the bed, his hip parked right next to Steve's right arm, and was inches away from Steve's face. "I'd bet you anything that you and Mary mean the world to your dad, too…"

Steve quickly shook his head, unsurprised to feel a tear escape his left eye, but very surprised to feel Danny's thumb gently wipe it away. "No. No, if he did care then he wouldn't have sent us away." Steve helplessly leaned into the touch.

"He's your dad, Steve. Of course he loves you. Parents may not be good at showing it sometimes but they love us. You have to know that." Danny soothed while still caressing Steve's cheek. Silence once again passed as they looked deeply into one another's eyes.

"It's like you understand…" Steve started but didn't know where he was going.

Danny smiled lightly. Slowly Danny removed his hand from Steve's cheek, hopped on the bed and propped himself up against the headboard. Steve followed suit. "My parents and I don't get along that well, to be honest."

"Why not?"

"I got mixed up with a bad group last year and ended up paying the price. My dad is a firefighter so he wasn't exactly happy to find out that his son had been arrested, it ruins his reputation, y'know? Mom didn't have much to say on the matter. We haven't really talked in months." Danny stared down at his hands that were clenched in his lap. Steve's eyes stay focused on Danny's profile, wondering what was going on in the blonde head of his.

"What'd you do?" Steve winced when it came out. He really didn't mean to ask it. "I didn't mean to ask that. You don't have to answer." Danny chuckled quietly and continued on as if Steve hadn't said anything.

"I got blamed for stealing test answers from the principal's computer, oh and they also blamed me for breaking said computer. Only it wasn't me. Jimmy Harada, you know him? Yeah. He comes up to me one day and tells me that he knows a way to get the test answers for the finals coming up. Being the idiot that I was, I went with him to the school that night. When we go there I got scared and told Jimmy that it wasn't a good idea and that we should leave but of course, he didn't listen to me. While he was trying to hack into the computer the alarm went off. Jimmy got so pissed that he slammed the office chair into the computer several times, nearly breaking it in two. Talk about rage issues, right? Then he freaked out and ran out of the place like his tail was on fire. I thought about running after him but I just stayed there, frozen in place. I guess since I knew I didn't do it then I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy was I wrong. Cops arrested me on the sight. It was a stupid move, I know." Danny finishes with a sigh and runs his hands through his perfectly gelled hair.

"Jimmy's an ass." Steve stated after a couple seconds of silence. Danny turned to look at him with a hint of amusement in his eyes and then burst out laughing. Steve couldn't help himself and gave into the grin he was fighting to hold back.

"Yeah, buddy. Jimmy is a complete and total ass. You've got that spot on." Danny grinned and bumped shoulders with Steve. All of a sudden his tone and expression became serious, "He the one that did this to you?"

Steve's smile immediately faded. Danny's blue eyes bored into his grey ones. Looking down at his lap, Steve felt himself slowly nodding, the memory of Jimmy punching him while he lay hopelessly on the locker room floor replaying in his mind, "Yeah." An ache began to creep into his chest. His voice sounded hoarse and raspy. Not at all like Steve.

Danny was silent for a moment, but then he scooted closer and wrapped his left arm around Steve's shoulders, bringing him in close. "You forget about him, okay? Stick with me and you'll be fine."

Steve felt himself leaning into Danny's side. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and closed his eyes, exhaustion finally overtaking him.

Steve must've drifted off into a sleep because 3 hours later he had woken up to Danny carefully removing Steve from his side and laying him down. He blinked wearily up at Danny and saw the blonde boy smile, "I've got to go. Go back to sleep. I'll come back over tomorrow, okay?"

Gently hands pushed him back into the warmth of the comforter and pillows. Steve nodded and closes his eyes again, quickly drifting off, but not before he felt warm lips press against his forehead.


End file.
